


Don't Sleep in the Shadows (Or the Common Room)

by AParticularlyLargeBear



Series: Shadowrun College [1]
Category: Shadowrun
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Gen, Juvenile Pranks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 19:57:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4890103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AParticularlyLargeBear/pseuds/AParticularlyLargeBear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>- Gobbet catches Duncan sleeping and ropes Is0bel into an ill-advised scheme.</p><p>As part of my drive to do more regular writing, I’ve decided to work on some shorter pieces. This has apparently coalesced into a college AU. I don’t know how.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Sleep in the Shadows (Or the Common Room)

“Hey, hey, hey, Izz.”

“What, Gobbet?”

“Duncan’s asleep in the common room.”

Is0bel looked up from her laptop with a frown, eyeing her roommate dubiously.

“So?” she was wondering if she was missing something here. Is0bel tended to miss things; social cues especially, and Gobbet tended to operate on a whole different level to pretty much anyone else Isobel had ever met.

She still wasn’t sure why they’d been put in the same dorm room. Complementary opposites, maybe. They certainly couldn’t be much less alike.

Gobbet gave a huff, puffing her cheeks out like a dreadlocked hamster. “So what do you think? It’s _pranking_ time!”

Is0bel looked into Gobbet’s earnest, smiling face, beaming with the expectation that she’d be one hundred percent on board with whatever madcap idea that had bubbled up inside her head.

“I have assignments to work on,” Is0bel replied, turning back to her computer and typing out a rapid string of keystrokes. Somebody on the internet was  _wrong_ about  _technology_ and this would not stand.

“Aw, come oooooooooooon Izz,” Gobbet wheedled, planting her hands on Is0bel’s desk.

Is0bel flinched backward, scooting her laptop away from the ork’s palpable aura of grease. Gobbet was great and all, albeit with a million and one weird habits, but Is0bel did  _not_ trust her anywhere close to her technology.

“It’ll be fun!” Gobbet added.

Is0bel decided to switch tack. “Do you really think making Duncan mad is a good plan? I for one don’t want to be around Mr. Gun Show when he goes nuclear.”

“That’s exactly why he needs to lighten up a bit. It’ll be good for him. S’like therapy!”

“And you really think he’ll see the funny side of…” Is0bel paused. “What are you even planning, anyway?”

Gobbet grinned. “Well you’ll just have to come see, won’t you?”

Is0bel groaned, grinding the heel of her hand into her forehead. Reluctantly, she looked away from the laptop again. Left to her own devices, Gobbet was probably all set to go down in a blaze of glory, and while Is0bel wanted in no way to be involved with that, she wanted even less for the ork to blame her for things going wrong. Is0bel had to share a room with her, after all.

Which left… dammit.

“All right, all right,” Is0bel muttered.

Gobbet let out a whoop. “Knew you’d come round, Izz. Here, chew this gum for me.”

Three sticks of gum were duly deposited in Is0bel’s hand. She stared at them. Then at Gobbet. “Uh… what?”

“You’ll see! C’mon, let’s go, before he wakes up!” Gobbet answered through a huge mouthful of her own gum, jaw going overtime just to work around the enormous rubbery wodge between her teeth.

Is0bel threw up her hands, rose, and followed her friend as she darted out of the room. She did not put the gum into her mouth. She was already complicit enough in… whatever this was. Is0bel wasn’t quite sure yet.

Gobbet was already halfway down the hallway by the time Is0bel left their room, and she made a terse noise of exasperation between her teeth. If it wasn’t enough that she was getting wrapped up in another of Gobbet’s schemes, the ork girl didn’t even have the decency to wait up for Is0bel to stick close to her.

When Is0bel caught up, it was only because Gobbet had stopped outside of the college common room, from within which was emanating a soft snoring. Gobbet was grinning again as she pulled her head back from peeking through the door.

“Still out like a light,” she announced, hushed. “Okay, you keep watch while I work my magic,” Gobbet extracted the gum from her mouth. Is0bel stared in abject horror.

“Please tell me that’s just for one of your weird pot roasts.”

Gobbet winked and slipped inside the room.

Is0bel groaned again, putting her back to the wall. Now she really  _was_ an accomplice. Mentally, she counted down from ten, fully expecting to hear an explosion of anger from within. Duncan Wu was not a mild mannered man.

Nothing, there was nothing. Except maybe stifled giggles.

Is0bel hesitated, discretion warring with sheer curiosity.

The latter won out, she looked around the door.

Duncan was sprawled out across a sofa, still snoring. Gobbet was crouched over him like some kind of trickster devil, snickering  as she painstakingly… arranged streaks of gum into a magnificently disgusting pink beard, complete with sideburns, moustache, and for added measure, scowling eyebrows.

Jesus Christ.

Isobel slunk back outside, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Hey. Is0bel,” the voice was soft. The person it came from was not. Is0bel looked up, then up some more. That happened a lot when you were a dwarf, but it was especially striking when you walked into a troll.

“Oh, um. Hi. Eiger.”

Eiger peered down at her, arms folded. She was wearing a tanktop, showing off the full extent of her heavily muscled physique. “You seen Wu?” she asked, after a moment. “We’re supposed to be hitting the gym in a few.”

“I… um…” Isobel cast a panicked look towards the common room door, then glued her eyes back onto Eiger. Shit.  _Shit._

Eiger raised an eyebrow.

Gobbet burst out of the room, cackling madly to herself. “Good work, Izz, now let’s get outta here befo-OH HEY Eiger!”

That same eyebrow furrowed. Gobbet gave the most disingenuously innocent smile Is0bel had ever seen.

“Gobbet. What have you done now-“

“WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!”

The furious scream echoed from within the common room, the walls reverberating from the sheer force.

“GoodtalkEigergottagobye!” Gobbet rattled, grabbing Is0bel by the hand and fleeing at top speed.

Is0bel began considering taking out a life insurance policy.


End file.
